The White House press secretary said she was being 'counseled' after her overt pitch on TV

By Zoe Nauman US Online Reporter

9th February 2017, 8:28 pm

Updated: 15th February 2017, 6:51 am

ONE of Donald Trump's key advisors has been "counseled" after she urged American's to buy items in Ivanka Trump's fashion line.

Kellyanne Conway told viewers to "buy Ivanka's stuff" during an interview on Thursday in what many saw as an overt pitch on the fashion line and was against stiff rules on government members plugging products.

There is provision in federal law in the US which bars government employees from pitching products.

The Code of Federal Regulations states: "An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including nonprofit organizations of which the is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations."

It goes on to say: "an employee shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any authority associated with his public office in a manner that could reasonably be construed to imply that his or the Government sanctions or endorses his personal activities or those of another."

Don W. Fox, who is the former general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics said: “Conway’s encouragement to buy Ivanka’s stuff would seem to be a clear violation of rules prohibiting misuse of public office for anyone’s private gain.”

Press secretary Sean Spicer said Conway was being counselled after her comments

Speaking to the Washington Post he branded the plug "jaw-dropping" and added: "This rule has been promulgated by the federal Office of Government Ethics as part of the Standards of Conduct for all executive branch employees and it applies to all members of the armed forces as well."

On Wednesday Trump posted a tweet about Nordstrom dropping his daughter's fashion line as "terrible" and said she had been treated "very unfairly."